For the second week of Membership Drive, Art Baker from Jamaican Gold was kind enough to sit in with me (Astra) for Worldbeat and help with that whole "passing of the hat" thing where we have to beg for money to keep the station running. Thanks to those folks who called in!

Title:	Artist:	Album:	Label:
1. Kese Kese (Beast of Asia Mix)	DJ Cheb i Sabbah & Bally Sagoo	Maha Maya: Shri Durga Remixed	Six Degrees
2. Sun is Shining	Bob Marley vs. Funkstar De Luxe	Essential Dance 2000	Altantic / Ada
3. Bicentennial feat. Sweet Mickey	Wyclef Jean	Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101	Bmg Int'l
4. Ob-la-Di Ob-la-da	Youssou N'Dour	7 Seconds: The Best of Youssou N'Dour	Sony
5. Voodoo Child	Angelique Kidjo	World Groove	Sony Music
6. Forest Power	Deep Forest	Made in Japan	Sony
7. Dilruba	Niyaz	Niyaz	Six Degrees
8. No Woman No Cry	Jimmy Cliff & Olodum	World Groove	Sony Music
9. Bomba Te Traigo Yo	José Gonzáles Y Banda Criolla	Islands	Putumayo

For the first day of our Spring 2007 Membership Drive, Dillon McKinsey from Writing on the Air joined me (Astra) in the studio to help drum up pledges. Here's the playlist:

Title:	Artist:	Album:	Label:
1. Take Me Home Country Roads	Toots & the Maytals	Reggae Playground	Putumayo
2. Bo'ee (Come with Me)	Idan Raichel Project	One World, Many Cultures	Putumayo
3. Happy Threshing	Pangea	Pangea	Elektra / Wea
4. Tina Vieri	Hedningarna	1989-2003	Northside Records
5. Move On	Mouth Music	Shorelife	Rykodisc
6. Dirty Laundry	Bitter:Sweet	A New Groove	Putumayo
7. The Lion Sleeps Tonight	Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the Mint Juleps	Do It A Capella	Elektra/Wea
8. Die Flut	Witt / Heppner	International: Sony Music Around the World	Sony
9. Sunnyroad	Emiliana Torrini	Women of the World: Acoustic	Putumayo
10. Redemption Song	Big Chief Kevin and the Flaming Arrows	Here Come the Indians Now!	Mardi Gras Records

For the last show in March, Worldbeat interviewed none other than Dan Storper, founder and CEO of Putumayo World Music. In honor of the occasion, we played nothing but Putumayo albums, and even conducted a couple of giveaways of two of their latest: Women of the World: Acoustic, and A New Groove. Big thanks to Mark for setting up, recording, and conducting the interview!

Title:	Artist:	Album:	Label:
1. Wa	Kaissa	Women of the World: Acoustic	Putumayo
2. Bitchifi	Angelique Kidjo	One World	Putumayo
3. Until the Morning	Thievery Corporation	A New Groove	Putumayo
4. Sinanay	Gulseren	Turkish Groove	Putumayo
5. Sunday Arak	Balkan Beat Box	Gypsy Groove	Putumayo
6. Ola Ta Aiskola	Anastasia Moutsatsou	Women of the World: Acoustic	Putumayo
7. Eastern Journey	Biddu Orchestra	Asian Lounge	Putumayo
8. Mulata	Raul Paz	Nuevo Latino	Putumayo

For this show, Tradewinds and Worldbeat teamed up to bring not one but two live bands into KOOP's studio for the tail end of SXSW!

First, Antibalas a 13-member Afro-beat, funk, and experimental group, got together to play several songs and answer a few questions. Nico T and Joey V of Tradewinds oversaw that, along with the help of Worldbeat's trusty apprentice, Mark. Big thanks to all of them for putting on such a great show!

After that, for Worldbeat's segment, Jen interviewed Harris Tweed, an indie/folk/pop group all the way from Johannesburg, South Africa, who graciously played several songs and let us do a few giveaways of their latest album. Kudos to Jen for putting that together!

Jen and Mark did this show. Here's what they played:

Title:	Artist:	Album:	Label:
1. Crabbuckit	K-os	A New Groove	Putumayo
2. Zwit Rit	Idir	Cairo to Casablanca	Putumayo
3. Believe	Ozomatli	Street Signs	Concord Records
4. Just My Imagination	The Cranberries	Stars: The Best of the Cranberries, 1992-2002	Island
5. Budos Band	The Volcano Song	The Budos Band	Daptone Records
6. Niawal	Sen Kumpa	Global Rhythm March 2007	Nomadic Wax
7. Sote Sote Adhi Raat	Sapan Jagmohan & Salma Agha	Global Rhythm April 2007	Essay
8. Beaten Metal	Antibalas	Security	Anti
9. Mi Confesion	Gotan Project	Lunático	XL Recordings
10. Cantara	Dead Can Dance	Toward the Within	4ad/Wea
11. Sabor De Mi Rumba	Alain Perez	Global Rhythm April 2007	Ayva

Tomorrow (Sunday) from 3:30 to 4:30, Worldbeat will be airing an interview with Dan Storper, Founder and CEO of Putumayo World Music.

Dan will speak about everything from the founding of Putumayo, some of the early challenges, the growing market for world music in recent years, to charitable work Putumayo does with non-profits throughout the world and some of Putumayo's other current projects.

Special thanks to Mark, our apprentice, for putting this interview together, all because of a chance meeting with Storper at a concert several months ago. Yay, Mark!

As always, you can either tune in to 91.7 FM if you're in the Austin area, or else stream it online.

So like the headline says, we've got some new pics up on our MySpace profile, at long last! If you've got a MySpace account, feel free to take a peek and see Jen and I in the studio, as well as our trusty apprentice, Mark, who's been helping us select lots of great tunes!

Also, I finally updated our playlists from the past several weeks, here on the blog. Shame on me for taking so long to do it, but they're up now if anyone's curious to see what we've been playing. All you "worldly" artists out there, feel free to send us promo CDs, if you like, to the following address:

Worldbeat c/o KOOP
PO Box 2116
Austin TX 78768-2116

And last, but certainly not least, if you're in Austin, TX, feel free to check out our East Austin Block Party tomorrow!

When: Sunday, March 4, 2007, 5 - 9 PM
Where: 3823 Airport Blvd (@ Airport & 38 1/2 Street)

The White Ghost Shivers will be headlining at the inaugural East Airport Block Party, which aims to spread awareness about the growing community-minded business culture of Austin's Near Eastside.

In addition to The White Ghost Shivers, the Anthropos Latin Combo and Fingerpistol will also be performing. The event includes food, drinks, and site tours of various 38 1/2 Street & Airport businesses (including the KOOP studio). And best of all, it's free!

Oh yeah, and don't forget to tune in tomorrow!

Mark, our apprentice on Worldbeat, joined me last week to help select some tunes. This is what we played:

Title:	Artist:	Album:	Label:
1. Man Wit No Woman	Mr. Peters & His Boom & Chime	Weh Mi Lova Deh	Stonetree Records
2. Here Come the Indians Now	Big Chief Kevin Goodman & the Flaming Arrows	Here Come the Indians Now!	Mardi Gras Records
3. Cuando Canto	Ozomatli	Live at the Fillmore	Concord Jazz
4. Divinorum	Ocote Soul Sounds & Adrian Quesada	El Nino Y El Sol	Aire Sol Records
5. Adir Adirim	Balkan Beat Box	Balkan Beat Box	JDub Records
6. Work in Progress	Daniel Bouliane	Tagayet	Onde-Spirale
7. Krishna	Padmashri Hariharan
8. Alaoui (Digital Bled Dance Mix)	L'orchestre National De Barbes	Arabia: The Essential Album	Essentials
9. En Sus Tierras	Wagogo	Waking Up	Dandemutande
10. Now We Are Free (Juba's Mix)	Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer, & Klaus Badelt	Gladiator: More Music from the Motion Picture	Decca U.S.

Jen did this show solo, and here's what she played:

Edit: I realized after the fact that I put these in the wrong order, so I switched the heading to read Artist, Title, etc.

Artist:	Title:	Album:	Label:
1. King Sunny Ade	Ori Mimi Maje N'te	Gems From The Classic Years	Shanachie
2. Bela Lakatos & the Gypsy Youth Project	Del O Brishind	Introducing Bela Lakatos & the Gypsy Youth Project	World Music Network
3. Kent	Den Doda Vinkeln	Du & Jag Doden	Sony
4. Yoshida Brothers	Fukaki Umi No Kanata	Asian Lounge	Putumayo
5. Lisa Gerrard & Pieter Bourke	The Human Game	Duality	4ad / Wea
6. Emmylou Harris, Dolores Keane, & Mary Black	Sonny	Ireland: The Greatest Songs Ever	Petrol
7. Burhan Öcal & Istanbul Oriental Ensemble	Kapalı Çarsı (Grand Bazaar)	Grand Bazaar	Yeni Dünya Müzik
8. Badenya	Boroto	African Groove	Putumayo
9. DJ Stim	Soormey	Desi Nation	Earthworks
10. Gubi Sandhu Feat. MC Coppa	Nakhra	Desi Nation	Earthworks
11. Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra	Africa Challenge	Boulevard de l'Independance	World Circuit

Jen and I did a special pre-Valentine's Day show, wherein I played all the happy, upbeat, sappy love music, and Jen played some stuff on the other side of the spectrum -- songs where things don't end up so hunky-dory. It was a fun show, and here's the playlist from it (the last one was played by accident, as James Bond doesn't have a whole lot to do with Valentine's Day):


Edit: I realized after the fact that I put these in the wrong order, so I switched the heading to read Artist, Title, etc.

Artist:	Title:	Album:	Label:
1. Tarika	Be My Baby	World 2002	Narada
2. Ace of Base	All That She Wants	The Sign	Arista
3. Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin'	Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher	Cover the World	Putumayo
4. Tarkan	Bu Gece	Tarkan	Universal Latino
5. Mishka	Give You All the Love	Mishka	Sony
6. Natacha Atlas	Who's My Baby?	Something Dangerous	Beggars UK - Ada
7. Van Morrison & The Chieftains	Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?	Long Black Veil	RCA Victor
8. The Smiths	How Soon Is Now? (Remix)
9. Matson Belle	Mother Tongue	Goodbye Juggernaut
10. Andy Stewart & Manus Lunny	Take Her in Your Arms	The Celts Rise Again	Celtophile Records
11. Leningrad Cowboys & Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble	Happy Together	World Groove	Sony Music
12. The Surf Champlers	James Bond Theme	World Groove	Sony Music